In this section, we break out our English language skills and inform you about the latest news from the German Beko Basketball Bundesliga. If you’re short on time but still want your fill of Germany’s top basketball league then you are in the right place. Every week David Hein (www.heinnews.com) brings you up-to-date in German basketball – the Beko BBL short and sweet:

Next stop: Beko BBL TOP FOUR 2014

A champion will be crowned this weekend as Ulm host the 2014 Beko BBL TOP FOUR. The mini-tournament promises to be a real spectable - thanks to a great group of teams. In addition to the four-time reigning league champions Brose Baskets Bamberg and reigning cup champions ALBA BERLIN, there are the current Beko BBL leaders Bayern Munich as well as the home team ratiopharm ulm. Both semi-finals on Saturday (5 p.m. Berlin vs Bamberg; 8 p.m. Munich vs Ulm) as well as the final on Sunday at 3 p.m. will be broadcast live on SPORT1 as well as for free via live stream on the Beko BBL website.

Bayern Munich race away from Würzburg late

While still fighting to reach the quarter-finals of the Euroleague and also looking ahead to the Beko BBL TOP FOUR, Bayern Munich were able to remain atop the Beko BBL with a hard-fought 98-84 win over s.Oliver Baskets Würzburg. Nihad Djedovic was impressive in pouring in 31 points as Bayern were able to pull away in the fourth quarter thanks to some good three-point shooting and extra possessions from offensive rebounds. Here the highlights:

Bamberg take out frustration on Ludwigsburg

Four-time reigning champions Brose Baskets Bamberg took out their frustrations of a blow-out loss in Berlin on MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg with a resounding 96-65 win at home. Bamberg collected 30 assists while hitting 11-of-18 three-pointers (61 percent) and shooting 57 percent overall. Captain Casey Jacobsen, who was kept out of the Berlin game and returned to score 11 of his teams first 12 points, said it all: “This was a lot of fun. We’re a really talented team and we haven’t had a lot of opportunities to show how capable we are of playing good offense and good defense. This is one of the most complete games that we’ve played.”

Stats Corner Part I: 0-of-15

File ALBA BERLIN’s 62-59 road victory over Eisbären Bremerhaven under “Here’s one you don’t see every day”. Sure, teams struggle sometimes shooting from the outside. But Berlin collected the win by missing all (!!!) 15 of their three-point attempts. Cliff Hammonds and David Logan both went 0-of-4 from long range but Berlin ended up getting the W.

Stats Corner Part II: 7-2

Mitteldeutscher BC won their fourth straight game by beating New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig 76-72. It was MBC’s third win by four points or less in that stretch. At 14-13, MBC are on the edge of making the playoffs in ninth place - thanks in large part to impressive performance in close games. In nine games decided by four points or fewer, MBC are 7-2 on the season.

Stats Corner Part III: 161

Last-placed WALTER Tigers Tübingen knocked off TBB Trier 74-67 to snap an 11-game home losing streak dating back 161 days - when Tübingen beat MBC on October 12.

Warning to all players being interviewed

They strike when least expected, when interview partners cannot know they are about to attack. To all players in the Beko BBL, watch out. Photo bombers are on the loose:

Player of the Week

What a game in general - Telekom Baskets Bonn winning on the road at medi bayreuth 106-98 in double overtime. And the week’s top showing came from Bonn power forward Jamel McLean, who had 24 points on 8-of-11 shots and 8-of-9 free throws while collecting 18 rebounds - eight of them offensive, two assists, one steal, two blocks and zero turnovers before fouling out after 40 minutes for an efficiency rating of 43. It would be unfair not to mention Bayreuth’s Brian Qvale, who came up with a 36 efficiency rating with 28 points on 14-of-20 shots, 12 rebounds, two assists, two steals, one block and three turnovers.

Kleber watch

Maxi Kleber had a solid game in Würzburg’s road loss at Bayern Munich with nine points on 3-of-9 shots, including 1-of-4 threes, and 2-of-2 free throws to go along with one rebound, five assists, one block and one turnover in 27:54 minutes. We have a Kleber treat for you this week as Würzburg coach Stefan Koch talked to us about Kleber’s development. Click here to listen in.

Young Guns

Bogdan Radosavljevic, 20, C, WALTER Tigers Tübingen

Borad continues to play really well for Tübingen as he scored 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 4-of-4 free throws while collecting six rebounds, one assist, one block, two turnovers and three fouls in 20:16 minutes of the Tigers’ win over TBB Trier.

Johannes Voigtmann, 21, C, FRAPORT SKYLINERS

JoVo was not superb but was solid in Frankfurt’s big win over Ulm with four points on 4-of-4 free throws and 0-of-2 shots. In 17:06 minutes, he had four rebounds, three assists and one turnover.

Daniel Theis, 21, PF, ratiopharm ulm

Without anyone thinking I’m lazy and just taking the same three guys from last week, the rest of the Young Guns candidates did not step up that big. So Theis returns with four points on 2-of-8 shots, including 0-of-3 on threes, with seven rebounds, one assist, one steal and two turnovers in 23:29 minutes of Ulm’s loss at Skyliners.

Basketball Insiders: Edgar Sosa

One of the leaders for ratiopharm ulm this season has been point guard Edgar Sosa. The Dominican Republic international talks to SportEagle.tv about growing up in New York and Ulm’s chances at the Beko BBL TOP FOUR.

Meat and Potatoes

There were no changes in the top of the Beko BBL standings as the top six teams all won with Bayern Munich leading with a 23-4 record ahead of Brose Baskets Bamberg (21-4) and Alba Berlin (19-7). Ulm missed a chance to jump to fifth place and inch closer to home court advantage in the first round of the playoff but their loss at Frankfurt dropped them to 16-10. Tübingen snapped their five-game losing streak but remain in last place at 5-21, behind RASTA Vechta at 5-22. Bremerhaven’s Darius Adams still leads the Beko BBL in scoring at 18.2 ppg, ahead of New Yorker Phantoms Braunschweig’s Isaiah Swann (17.8 ppg) and Ludwigsburg’s Keaton Grant (16.5 ppg). Bonn’s Jamel McLean took over the rebounding lead with 7.7 rpg with Phoenix Hagen’s Larry Gordon second at 7.4 rpg and Angelo Caloiaro of MBC third at 7.2 rpg. Bamberg’s Jared Jordan still leads the league in assists with 7.8 apg with Eugune Lawrence of Bonn second at 6.8 apg and Kevin Hamilton from Bayreuth third (5.8 apg). Caloiaro tops the efficiency rating leaderboard at 18.4 while McLean is second at 16.7 and Jordan at 16.4. Last but not least, the Top 10 of the week: